Jeanne C. Roberts
Jeanne C. Roberts, 87, passed away on Tuesday, September 6, 2022 at Ridge Crest in Redding, CT following an acute stroke earlier in June. She was a resident of Wilton, CT for 48 years.
Jeanne was born in Elizabeth, NJ on November 6, 1934 to the late Edward and Pauline Chmiel. She was the second of three daughters. Jeanne attended Battin High School in Elizabeth. During high school, she was an enthusiastic and gifted sports participant, playing softball and other sports. A favorite pastime of hers was catching pitches (in a newspaper padded mitt) thrown by her father Ed, a professional baseball player for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Following high school, Jeanne worked in the Marketing Department of Union Center Bank in Union, NJ for 3 years. Moving on from the bank, she spread her wings and relocated to the Stowe, VT ski resort. Ever the athlete and game for anything, she briefly took up skiing where she earned the nickname "the bullet", due to her lack of turns combined with high speed. She worked in the resort office and was also tasked with any job that needed an eye for detail and finesse. She would still reminisce about babysitting for JFK Jr. and Caroline while the Kennedy family vacationed there.
Realizing her knack in the hospitality industry, her ability to pull things together elegantly and her exceptional client service, Jeanne moved on to the Balmoral Club in Nassau, Bahamas. At the Balmoral Club, Jeanne ran the Concierge/Activities Desk and was the go-to person in charge of organizing anything that the esteemed guests wanted, ranging from scuba diving, to fishing, to restaurants, to tennis, to casino outings and many other adventures.
It was at the Balmoral Club in the mid 1960's that Jeanne met the love of her life, Michael Roberts of Royal Tunbridge Wells, England. Michael was the sommelier and maître d' of the Balmoral Club and the two of them fell in love. They were married in Nassau, Bahamas and lived there for five plus years. During this time, they welcomed their first child, Timothy.
From Nassau, the young family moved to Atlanta, Georgia where their second child, Andrew, was born. They moved next to Ridgefield, CT and then finally to Wilton, CT which became their permanent home.
Jeanne was active in many pursuits in Wilton: Wilton Little League coach, Little League Board Member, Wilton Lacrosse Board Member, and proud member of her group of women friends – "The Steel Magnolias". She had a cottage industry making and painting tiny lacrosse players with custom jerseys, requisitioned by lacrosse moms up and down the eastern seaboard.
In 1994, heartbroken by the loss of her husband Michael, Jeanne became an EMT and member of the Wilton Volunteer Ambulance Corp. She also purchased "Wayside Exchange", an antique and consignment shop in Wilton that she ran for 24 years, until April 2019. She loved her shop and cultivated dear friends throughout the East Coast and England. One could always find tasteful furniture and décor at reasonable prices in her shop. Jeanne was always at her shop desk, ready to talk about whatever was topical that day. She would also take annual antique buying trips to England with her beloved sister Anne and their group of antiquing friends.
Jeanne was a devout Catholic and attended mass weekly at Sacred Heart in Georgetown, where she was a Eucharistic Minister. She loved her two sons and grandchildren beyond measure, whose activities she followed joyously.
Jeanne was predeceased by her husband Michael, her parents and her sister, Barbara Kelly of Iselin, NJ. She is survived by her beloved sister Anne Lyon (Richard) of Chatham, NJ, her sons Timothy (Kari) of Wilton, CT and Andy (Amber) of New York, NY, along with her grandchildren Mikey, Jill, Drew and Breck, and her three dear nephews (Rick, Peter and David Lyon) and their families. She was greatly loved and will be missed immensely by her family.
Friends may greet the family on Thursday Sept. 15, 2022 from 5:00 to 8:00p.m. in the Bouton Funeral Home, 31 West Church St. Georgetown (Wilton). A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday Sept. 16, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church, Georgetown. Burial will follow in Hillside Cemetery, Wilton.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to "Wilton Volunteer Ambulance Corps", 234 Danbury Road, Wilton, CT 06897, or by using this link:
http://wiltonambulance.org/donate-volunteer/support-us/To offer online condolences please visit www.
boutonfuneralhome.com
Published by Wilton Bulletin on Sep. 13, 2022.